


A Cat's Business

by orphan_account



Category: House of Cards (US TV)
Genre: Love, Loyalty, Multi, Murder, Protection, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-18
Updated: 2014-03-18
Packaged: 2018-01-16 05:29:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1333834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People keep dying; Francis suspects Edward is very serious about protecting them from the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Cat's Business

His sleep is interrupted by thin tendrils of worry despite the fact that all was quiet, unless you count the normal concerns of the Presidency. 

*

Rubbing his eyes, Francis grabs the cup of coffee Claire offers. Normalized after half the cup, one gulp, he looks up to see Edward Meechum reading the goddamn newspaper.

“Mine!” he growls, holding out his hand. 

“Sorry, Mr. President,” answers Meechum demurely. On the front page, bottom right, was a headline: ‘Former Editor Tom Hammerschmidt Found Dead’.

Francis continues reading, learning that former-editor of the Washington Herald had died at the foot of staircase in his home, his body found three days later by his concerned daughter. Good, he thinks, glad to have one nagging, uncut thread of the whole, uncomfortable business no longer treading the mortal coil. Francis smiles at Claire but it is Edward who catches his attention. Normally, their loyal bodyguard (and lover) stares at him with those dark, puppy-dog eyes but today, Edward looks any place other than at himself or Claire. Not guiltily nor with worry. No, the man appears aloof, even pleased with himself. Francis looks at the picture of poor Hamerschmidt and back up again. 

Edward winks.

*  
Edward smells of strong soap as Francis brushes past him to step inside the limousine but there is another odor underlying – that of kerosene. Of course there was, he thinks later, reading the article buried in the B section of the Massachusetts newspaper he finds on his desk. 

A trailer burnt to ashes, along with owner Roy Kapeniak and an unknown female in her twenties. He dismisses the milling staffers from the Oval Office, all but Edward, who is smug and smiling, reminding Francis of his grandmother’s cat, an animal who longed for approval and sought it by depositing an army of dead mice and rats upon her front steps. It couldn’t help it. The creature followed its nature and so it seemed with their pet Secret Service Agent. Scolding won't help so Francis pushes back his chair, unzips his flies and motions Edward to kneel before him to receive some approval.

*

A month later and there's a hastily Xeroxed coroner’s report with his morning paper. Lucas Goodwin had died of blunt trauma to his skull and chest, the result of an assault presumably perpetrated by a fellow prisoner.

*

CNN reports an amusing story: a guinea pig named Cashew inheriting the estate of his deceased owner, a notorious, reclusive hacker who had drowned in his bathtub.

*

An adjunct professor in Syracuse, one Janine Skorsky, lost her life in a single-car accident, the result of failed brakes. A terrible tragedy, noted the local paper, an honest accident.

*  
Adam Galloway died from injuries received during a mugging – just one of those sad things that happen in New York City. Claire’s mouth grows grim when she receives the news but as she processes her feelings her attitude improves and Francis walkes in on her more than once, her skirt hiked up and Edward’s head buried between her thighs.  
Things improved even more when Gillian Cole is killed in a carjacking. “Thank God the baby was safe,” Claire exclaimed. Francis and Edward agreed. The boy, six months old, was taken in by Dr. Applebaum and his wife; such a relief.

*  
The body of a prostitute is fished from the Delaware River, her body too decomposed to lift prints, read the tiny story circled hastily in pencil. Goodbye, Rachel. Francis crumples the paper, depositing it in the recycle bin without much of a second thought.

*  
“Poor Doug,” sighs Claire as she nestles between Francis and Edward, a strange topic to discuss in post-coital bliss but it was on all three of their minds. Stamper had lingered almost a year in his coma before succumbing, apparently the victim of an air bubble in his i.v. line. 

“Hospitals are such dangerous places,” notes Edward sadly. “But his suffering is over.”

Once Claire was asleep, Francis nudges the lanky man resting beside him.

“Are you done?” he asks simply.

Edward smiles faintly, nodding. 

“My job is to protect you, Sir,” he reminds Francis gently.

Francis replies with a heartfelt kiss. 

“Thank you,” he breathes but somewhere deep inside he wonders, ‘If Edward is protecting me, then who will protect me from Edward?’


End file.
